The official Grand Theft Auto IV news thread (UK OPM news update)

[Himu]

Yeah, it isn't, but I'd still like to see my favorite characters return in all of their next gen glory.

My thoughts: seems neat. I'm kinda disappointed no characters will return, but..oh well. It appears to me they were really held back by the technology last gen. Since technology has caught up to what they were trying to do, we may get to see some interesting things in this game.

Plus, limited character customization is a good thing to me, at least compared to San Andreas.

The game has been in development since Nov 2004. Wow.

[Himu]

Here's the rest of the article

http://www.ottae.com/images/iv/8.jpg
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http://www.ottae.com/images/iv/11.jpg
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[Himu]

New Information

- Niko will be able to climb and descend exterior fire escapes. (been said before, but more proof here)
- Some meetings will take place high in skyscrapers, which you will able to throw people off.
- Liberty City will be roughly the size of San Andreas, but packed with more details. (more exact size)
- Boats will be included in the game (was unsure, but now confirmed)
- You may possibly be able to contact other friends playing GTA IV online via the in-game cell phone.



Source: OXM UK

[brawndolicious]

I wonder if they'll have a online mobster thing (like six people per mob and you're all kingpins and you compete against another mob and how the other mob reacts affects you in things like territory and businesses, etc.), it would be very fucking addictive if done right which seems easy to do technically.

[Himu]

They totally have to do a cops and robbers thing dude.

[brawndolicious]

cops and robbers can get repetitive.  with the way they changed the gameplay it seems more like an oblivionesque have to memorize the legal and illegal things you can do type of game and if they get online mobs, it could be fun.

[Himu]

There hasn't been much info at all about the legalities you can pull off.

[brawndolicious]

in the last game you had legal business fronts.  in this one it looks like you actually operate them.

[Himu]

They said that in this game it won't be about making it to the top so I doubt they'll implement businesses. Hopefully they don't.

[brawndolicious]

I'd imagine they're a sidequest that ties into the online progress of other players if it works like that.

[Himu]

OPM Italy's got new info:

#  You can view the bus schedule at bus stops around this city, strongly encouraging the idea that players will be able to ride the bus for a small fee.

# When Niko draws a weapon, the camera will position itself over his shoulder and a crosshair will appear in the center of the screen, similar to manual aim in San Andreas. It will be possible to lock onto a target and strafe left and right to avoid any oncoming bullets.

# Grand Theft Auto will not longer be as easy as it's been in GTA IV's predecessors. You can't just jump into a car and immediately floor it. You may have to hot wire the car, or sneak up to it and break the window to enter.

# Niko will be able to climb several things such as telephone poles and fire escapes.

# You can look down into the grating of a sidewalk panel and view what's under Liberty City. Light will shine down into these places.

# Philip Glass, the composer of the trailer music, may be involved in the production of the game's soundtrack.

New artwork:



I'm loving the new details, especially about the difficulty thing. One thing I love about GTAIII over the other 3d GTA's is that it can get quite difficult at times. Still, making it harder to jack a car isn't what I call more difficult. That's the bread and butter of GTA gameplay. Imagine having to go through a hot wire mini game in the middle of a police chase after you car blew up. Augh.

[The Sceneman]

Stop bumping this fucking thread no one gives a shit about your dinosaur game

[Himu]

Stop bumping this fucking thread no one gives a shit about your dinosaur game

Fuck off and choke on your own dick cream you wang wacker.

[tiesto]

I don't think I really like this... I could imagine having to do minigames or it taking a while to jack a car (something I remember happening quite a bit in the other games) would get annoying REALLY fast.

[Himu]

Well, it seemed from the earlier mag previews that hot wiring a car is fast as hell. Maybe the faste and better cars are just harder to hotwire? It WOULD be stupid for it to take a while though, because that would piss off a section of the user base.

[Scurvy Stan]

This game looks awesome. As long as I can run ppl the fuck over and there are cheat codes for unlimited ammo and invinicibility I could give a shit less about the petty details.

[Himu]

New preview (goddamn they're doing these every day now) from OPM Austraila. Probably the most substantial preview since the first GI one. It contains a lot of juicy info, but still mostly vague things. Nothing really heavy into the gameplay department yet.

"suburb upon suburb of randomly generated houses simply didn't add anything worthwhile" People are reading newspapers, gesturing whilst talking on their mobile phones, people sitting on seats while talking and absent-mindly flicking dust off their jeans. "We really know we're in Liberty City when we see an 80-year old granny staggering down the street as she takes swigs from a bottle of whisky."

You can feel the bass of passing cars, and hear the radio that they're listening to when it goes past. Rockstar asked the magazine not to publish the name of the song, as no artists have been set in stone.

Niko passes an ATM and it prompts him to "access funds". It's likely that if you die, you may lose all your money, so putting it in a bank when you get a substantial amount seems like a good idea. The magazine also hints at being able to bribe people and the possibility of being mugged.

From the outside, you can see through windows into houses. While it may sound like a "Big Whoop!", staking out a house for a missions purpose could have its advantages.

The idea of terrorism is in the game, but it's not a focal point. It's obvious that it's a post 9/11 game. Just to stop people going on, Niko is definately Eastern European, not Middle Eastern. There is no Ground Zero, mainly because a "massive area of flat concrete" isn't all that exciting. Terrorism and the "War On Terror" are shown to be used as an excuse to limit freedoms.

I knew they were going to tackle post 9/11 America. I cannot wait for the black comedy in this one. The quotables will be endless.

Imagine just walking around the npc's make comments about hos you look like you're from Iraq and that you look like a terrorist. Or taking cracks at the silly paranoia and color coded terrorist levels. Things like that. Oh God.

[Robo]

Philip Glass

[tiesto]

I hope Rise and MSX FM are still in the game...

[Himu]

   
# We finally got an answer as to why a trailer for the game was released earlier than any other trailer for any other GTA game ever. Dan Houser, co-founder of Rockstar Games said that the company feels that they are showing stuff "earlier than [they] normally would do purely because [they] have got to get enough people excited enough to want to go out and buy the new consoles." Later, he says "we are trying to make things that will make a large number of people go out and buy the machines. We have to do that by showing stuff early because it's a big purchase to people."

# Houser took a shot at the PlayStation 3 and Sony by saying "because of the games out there at the moment, I wouldn't go out and spend $600 on one of those machines yet. There's not enough interesting software unless you happen to really like having an expensive box that shows off graphics on some really uninspiring games." He didn't mention the PS3 by name.

# Houser said that the goal for the game is to "create a game that feels like the ultimate gangster crime experience and on the other hand, it's to create a game that feels like the ultimate living in a modern city experience."
# The eating and body-building features from San Andreas will not be in GTA IV because Rockstar "wanted to focus on physics more and they got kind of conflicting."
# Houser was asked about a possible PSP title called GTA: San Andreas Stories coming soon, but all Houser had to say was "no real plans at the moment" and that they are "doing some other things" with the handheld device...

I hope Rise and MSX FM are still in the game...

Well if they aren't, it seems there's an Eastern European station in the game, it's rumored to be a dance music station.

[Hollywood]

# The eating and body-building features from San Andreas will not be in GTA IV because Rockstar "wanted to focus on physics more and they got kind of conflicting."

The real reason should be, because it was freaking distinguished mentally-challenged and boring as fuck.

I like most of what I'm hearing about GTA IV. I don't know about more difficulty to jack cars, if hotwiring is some minigame or something - but note - if someone is DRIVING the car, you should be able to just steal it like usual it seems like. It sounds morel ike you see a really awesome car sitting in a lot somewhere, you wanna go jack it, you might have to work for it - which might be pretty cool.

[Himu]

It sounds morel ike you see a really awesome car sitting in a lot somewhere, you wanna go jack it, you might have to work for it - which might be pretty cool.

Completely agree.

I think the better the car, the harder it should be to jack. Kinda like getting the Apache in Vice City. You had to infiltrate the army base, and chances of getting fucked was around 95%